The butterfly sponge mop has been used with great success as an efficient cleaning tool for many years. The feature of the mop which allows its sponge to rotate or pivot closed, thereby squeezing fluid from a fully soaked or soiled sponge, has been a major advance in the industry. The butterfly sponge mop shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,643,407 is representative of this type of mop.
There have been recent improvements to the butterfly sponge mop, most notably the use of a novel front scrubber on the mop, as seen in U.S. Pat. No. Re. 36,635, and the use of a molded center sponge support, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 420,775. However, the manner of connecting and pivoting the side shell pieces which actually rotate or pivot down onto the cleaning sponge member of these mops has remained substantially unchanged over the years. The mops disclosed in the referenced patents, as well as other prior butterfly mops which use side shells, routinely employ some type of intermediate attachment member, usually a rigid connection piece, which is secured to the underside of the sponge support member. The side shells are mounted on this connection piece, which allows the side shells to rotate or pivot down onto the mop""s sponge member by the squeeze arms which are used on such mops. Two springs, one for each side shell, are normally used to bias the side shells in position in relation to the center sponge support member. This system, although commonly used, requires excess hardware and components and additional manufacturing process, all with attendant expense.
It is thus an object of the present invention to overcome the limitations and disadvantages of prior butterfly sponge mops and mop operation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a butterfly sponge mop which has fewer components than existing mops for ease of manufacture, assembly and use.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a butterfly sponge mop which simply, easily and, effectively provides for the biased pivoting of its side shell pieces over its cleaning sponge member.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a butterfly sponge mop which allows for the direct connection without additional components, of its side shell pieces to the center sponge support member of the mop.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a butterfly sponge mop which uses integrally connected axle members to support and allow for the rotation or pivoting of shell pieces in relation to the center sponge support member of the mop.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a butterfly sponge mop which uses a single spring to bias both side shell pieces in relation to the center sponge support member of the mop.
The present invention constitutes an improvement to the base plate assembly and the manner of operation of butterfly sponge mops. It consists of two side shell pieces, each with two outwardly extending axle members. The axle members are directly connected to the front and rear walls of the center sponge member support of the mop. No additional hardware or other connection means is required. A single spring, which partially overlays one axle member of each side shell, provides the necessary bias to maintain the side shells in a common horizontal plane in relation to the sponge support member. The side shells in this base plate assembly can then be rotated or pivoted in the conventional manner, in order to fold the sponge member of the mop and thus squeeze moisture from it. The assembly operates effectively and efficiently, requiring less component parts and less attendant manufacturing.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The butterfly sponge mop base plate assembly itself, however, both as to its design, construction, and use, together with additional features and advantages thereof, are best understood upon review of the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.